Great Online Resources for Job Seekers

I just saw a posting on a LinkedIn discussion group, asking, “Could you live without the internet”? Of course, no one is going to die without it, but as the question implies, we’ve all come to rely on the rapid access to an amazing amount of info, available to us anytime, anywhere.

For job seekers, the web provides an invaluable resource for researching:

Open positions

Salaries

Companies you may want to target or have already applied to

Connections to get you in through the “back door”

Recruiters, career coaches and consultants

How to write a resume, cover note or thank you letter

Interview tips for in-person, Skype or phone

For that matter, learning virtually anything!

The trouble is, the vast amount of information available to us can be a bit overwhelming. With so many great resources virtually at our fingertips, where do you turn to for the best of the best?

Here are a few of my very favorite online resources. Incidentally, most of these websites also offer free e-newsletters, serving up their freshest ideas and culled down bits of info, delivered right to your inbox – which I actually like better than the sites themselves. So, without further ado…

My favorite free online sites for job hunting info and advice:

GetaJobTips.com– there are many great advice boards. TheLadders.com (if you’re in the upper salary range), CareerRocketeer.com, and others. But the one that offers more unique content, my opinion, is Kathy Bernard’s GetaJobTips.com. She’s a consultant who, if I ever break down and decide to actually spend money on a career coach, will be getting my bucks.

Careerbuilder.com – A colleague of mine has been getting tons of interview opportunities. I wasn’t and couldn’t figure out why. He advised that he had posted his resume on CareerBuilder® site. Of course, he paid for the service, “to expose his résumé to more recruiters”. I decided to try it for free. Within hours, my phone and email were “flooded” with inbound calls and messages about potential opportunities. (By flooded, I mean 3-5 recruiters per week contacting me with offers I hadn’t previously seen posted elsewhere.) Some were ridiculous – like an offer to relocate out of state, at my expense, to establish an insurance franchise in Florida with a mere $50,000 buy in. Right… But, by the same token, I’ve received several promising job leads as a result of adding my résumé to their site, and have spread the gospel to unemployed colleagues who have reported it’s working for them too. You can, of course, set up alerts for new postings in your area by key word. My only words of advice if you decide to post your résumé here are: change some minor aspect of your résumé every few weeks to keep your name near the top of their list; and, don’t use a home address, to avoid potential crazies from finding too much info. I use my post office box address – actually a box at a local UPS store.

Salary.com is exactly what it says, a resource for learning about what others make, searchable by title and territory. Great info to have when negotiating salary.

Greig Wells’ BeFoundJobs.com and his GetHiredFast program – I hesitated before putting this on my list, as truth be told, I find him a bit irritating. But, he offers free webinars packed with some very interesting ideas on getting your résumé seen, and he tells you exactly how to do it. The down-side – his free webinar was scheduled for 1.5 hours, and lasted 3 – since at least 50 minutes are wasted by him pushing his services, which can be purchased for $699, but if you act right now…. Well you get the drift. I neither purchased his service, nor have I yet implemented his suggestions, but thought they did offer enough value to list him in my top five.

LinkedIn.com– I’m sure you’re all familiar with this site, ideal for connecting with other people in business. It also offers groups, job boards, discussions, topical news and more. In fact, there’s so much to be said, we’ll save further discussion for a future date.

Of course, this is only meant to be my short list of the best of the best. Every day I discover some new site, blog, newsletter, or what-have-you that I find useful. But, when time is short, these are the ones I check first; well scratch Greig from the “time is short” statement.

I should add that I do not work for, nor receive compensation of any kind from any of these resources. I just find their free information useful, and thought you may like them too.

In coming weeks, watch for postings of my favorite online resources for general business marketing information and tools, writing tips, mobile and social media marketing, and more. If you haven’t yet signed up to follow this blog, why don’t you do so now? (See “follow” box at right.)

So, how about you? Are there job-hunting or career sites that I’ve overlooked that make it to your top-five list? Drop me a comment below.

Like this:

Related

3 comments on “Great Online Resources for Job Seekers”

BTW re: Greg Wells: One of his tips was to start your own LinkedIn group. I thought the idea was a bit off the wall. But, a woman who read this blog article signed up for his class, started her own LI group on energy sustainability issues, and now has over 2,000 worldwide members!! She puts on monthly in-person events in D.C., has corporate sponsors, is regularly asked to speak on TV and radio, and I believe even presented in conjunction with a U.N. event. You might connect with her to learn more. I’m delighted that she reached out to me as a result of reading this article, and we’ve subsequently become good friends. You can contact Janine Finnell at the Leaders in Energy group: https://www.linkedin.com/company/9368532?trk=prof-0-ovw-curr_pos and via her website: http://www.lercpa.org.

Here’s another great resource for job seekers or even those with a job. Liz Ryan, CEO of HumanWorkplace (www.humanworkplace.com). Love her advice (and her cute graphics). You may have caught her writings at Forbes or Inc. magazines, as she’s a regular columnist. Register for her free newsletter at the website above.

Craigslist is also a good resource for jobs with the caveat that most positions featured tend to be *local only*. In my experience, I’ve found that a lot of smaller companies tend to use Craigslist because it’s free and the foot traffic is pretty high. Have you tried it and if so, have you found it to be useful?

Glassdoor.com- is a great site to get an insider’s insight into the corporate culture of an organization. It’s like Yelp! for companies and their top management.

I’m going to check out the resources you recommended in your article. With the preponderance of material available at our fingertips, it’s always a challenge to find the most valuable and relevant ones!

Shortlink

Navigation

You are encouraged to repost, tweet and share, as long as full and clear credit is given to Suzy Kedzierski and Marketing Communications Ink. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission is prohibited.